Shawnigan Shapes Lives for Generations

Good evening everyone: staff, families, friends, and especially tonight’s graduates, the Class of 2026.

 

I am a proud parent and aunt to two graduating students, and someone who has known this school across more than one chapter of life; and for all those reasons, I have a great deal to be thankful for.

 

I first arrived at Shawnigan many years ago as a student, in the second class of girls into a brand-new Kaye’s House. I assumed I would graduate, move on, and pack Shawnigan neatly into a completed chapter of my past.

 

Instead, I find myself still connected: an alumna and a past intern, and now watching a son and a nephew graduate alongside my brother – himself an alumnus and long-time staff member – and still counting as close friends people I first met on this campus decades ago.

 

Somewhere along the way, Shawnigan stopped being a place I once went to and became a place I continued to belong to. It turns out it’s less a chapter, and more a continuous thread through my life.

 

That sense of belonging takes on a new meaning when you become a parent. Even having gone here myself, I truly couldn’t imagine sending my own child away so young, sacrificing the short, precious time we get with our children. For boarding parents, that leap of faith stretches every parental instinct well beyond its comfort zone. And yet, we step forward anyway – guided by hope, gut feeling, and a wish to do what’s right for our children, and through them, for the world they will inherit – and feel enormous relief when we see our children not just coping but thriving.

 

The sacrifices are real. There’s missed family time for boarding and day families, the ache of absence, and the shock of how quickly our children change. They seem to grow like Claymation characters – frame by jerky frame – suddenly more independent, more confident, more capable.

 

But what they gain here is extraordinary. They live and learn in a global community, alongside students from around the world. Every day, they learn how to listen, adapt, and belong to something larger than themselves, while finding and using their own voices.

 

Class of ’26, know that there are very few times like this in life when you are surrounded by an entire team unmistakably, unrelentingly, supporting your growth and success. At Shawnigan, you have that: your families at home, whether nearby or far away, and in your Houses, world class teachers and coaches, advisors, House Directors, support staff, teammates, and friends – all aligned with you, holding you to high standards and willing you to succeed.

 

Shawnigan asks a great deal of its students, but it matches great expectations with great care.

 

Students here are held accountable. And when they stumble, they’re given the chance to learn rather than be defined by the moment. I know this because I experienced it myself.

 

I was a diligent student who once failed a chemistry test spectacularly. My famously grumpy teacher stopped me after class, listened, and said, “This is your free spin. The mark won’t count. You can make it up another way.”

 

I don’t remember much of the chemistry. But I’ve never forgotten the kindness.

 

I’ve seen what makes Shawnigan special clearly through my brother, whose belief in young people and commitment to teaching and to Shawnigan is the reason I wanted my children here, and through his wife, who supports his commitment to this community in countless unseen ways while balancing her own teaching career and family.

 

Shawnigan runs on visible excellence – and a remarkable amount of invisible devotion.

 

Just as importantly, this school understands something essential: joy matters.

 

Last year, my son and his roommate duct taped harmonicas under school buses and a few staff cars for April Fool’s Day, creating a completely unnecessary soundtrack as vehicles sped up. When it was discovered, the response wasn’t irritation, it was laughter. I share this not to confess on my son’s behalf, but because it reassured me. Through the leadership of Mr. Lamont, this community understands that curiosity, humour, and just enough harmless mischief are part of growing up. Excellence and joy coexist here. And despite the School’s incredible evolution since my time – academically, culturally, architecturally – I will note with some concern, that there is still no chocolate milk. This remains particularly painful given that when I was a student, the school down the road that shall not be named, once their former co-ed advantage was removed, pivoted the subject of their trash talk to chocolate milk. Specifically, that they had it, and we did not.

 

Some wounds heal slowly.

 

Chocolate milk notwithstanding, my trust in Shawnigan with my sons rests not on what the School was in my time, but on what it is today. Strong, inspired leadership. A committed executive team. An extraordinary staff. An effective and dedicated Board. Generous alumni and parents who with each generation, have made this place stronger, more beautiful, and more accessible – bringing C.W. Lonsdale’s vision to life that exceptional students deserve a Shawnigan education, regardless of financial means.

 

I believe this is why so many people, like myself, never really leave. Alumni and past parents return to work at the School, to serve on the Board, delivering their children – and grandchildren – here from across the globe, or just down the road, to join the Shawnigan family. It speaks volumes about the Shawnigan experience.

 

As parents we made the brave, and slightly terrifying, decision to trust others in a shared upbringing of our children. Watching who they have become, it’s clear that trust was well placed.

 

To the teachers, advisors, coaches, house teams, support staff, and everyone who keeps this extraordinary place running from before breakfast and long into the evening – thank you.

 

You hold our children to high standards, care for them with patience and humour, and somehow manage to do it all while standing for hours in the rain on playing fields and showing up cheerfully the next morning. Thank you for this wonderful place of belonging, challenge, care, and joy. We are deeply grateful.

 

Shawnigan doesn’t simply educate students for a few years. It shapes lives, for generations.

 

Congratulations to the Class of 2026.